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This barrel was one of the last to be produced by the Frank J. Hess and Sons Cooperage of Madison. It is signed by five Hess descendants who carried on the family business into the 1960s. The Hess Cooperage, one of the longest-lived barrel producers in the United States, was established on Madison's east side in 1904. Born in Bohemia in 1870, company founder Frank J. Hess was a trained cooper who emigrated to America in 1889. He worked as a cooper in Chicago and Prairie du Chien before starting his own business in Madison. The Hess Cooperage used white oak shipped from Missouri and cattails gathered from local marshes to construct beer and wine barrels for breweries throughout Wisconsin and across the country. All four of Hess's sons, Joseph, Tony, Frank and Edward, carried on their father's craft, while daughter Josephine Hess served as the company manager.